Iran FM: New US visa reform law to violate nuke deal (UPDATE)

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that full implementation of the new US law on visa reform will violate the nuclear deal between Tehran and the six world powers, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"If the US government fully implements the new law this will be against the JCPOA," Iran's state TV channel IRINN quoted Zarif as saying Dec. 23.

Earlier, on Dec. 19, the US President Barack Obama signed into law a Congress visa waiver bill that limits the possibility for foreigners to travel visa-free to the US.

The Visa Waiver Program allows citizens of about 38 countries, mostly European, to travel to the US for tourism, business, or while in transit for up to 90 days without having to obtain a visa. However, the recent amendment to the program, stipulated by the law, imposes restrictions on foreigners who intend to visit the US.

The legislation will bar many foreign nationals or those with dual citizenship, including thousands of Iranians having visited Iran, Syria, Iraq and Sudan over the past five years, from entering the US without a visa.

Iranian FM further said the US Secretary of State John Kerry officially announced that the US administration will not permit the nuclear deal implementation to face any problems.
"This is an officially declared policy from the US government, but we should watch how the new law is implemented," said Zarif.

"If the US government uses its authority to apply the law, then we will need to review whether the JCPOA has been violated or not," he added.

Zarif noted that the Iranian Committee to Monitor and Supervise Implementation of the JCPOA will study the issue as well.

Other members of the P5+1, that includes the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany, in turn have their own interests that would impede the implementation of this "discriminatory" decision, he further said referring to the new US law.